Don't Need Mistletoe
by halffictionalprincess
Summary: "Hermione would I need mistletoe the next time I want to kiss you?" And before she kissed him again she said "No, you won't"


A/n- Okay, so I know it's late, I mean Christmas was four days ago, but I've been toying with this idea for a while now and now that I've finally got it right (read: finally stopped procrastinating ) I really want people to read it! Hope You guys like it.

Disclaimer- I don't and never could own Harry Potter.

**Don't Need Mistletoe.**

Moon light illuminated each falling snowflake like a diamond.

Standing on the top of the Astronomy tower, Hermione Granger took in the visual in front of her as the falling snow formed a blanket on the entire forbidden forest. So unaware of the misery that still existed in this castle, the snowflakes danced around in air. Though the Christmas decorations and the sound of music coming from the great hall might fool an outsider, she knew that six months weren't enough to heal the wounds that were still fresh from the war.

As a tribute to those who lost their loved ones and to those who lost their lives in the war, the new Headmistress had decided to organize a Christmas Eve ball, as a sign of new beginnings. But Hermione knew that it would take a lifetime for the wounds to heal, if they ever did.

An image of Fred Weasely's lifeless body fluttered through her brain and she had to squeeze her eyes shut to stop the tears. Fred would hate it, that people were crying for him. He'd spend his entire life trying to make people laugh, not cry.

She thought of the destruction that war had caused to this castle, each break in the walls had represented the faults in the wizarding society, and each death had been a loss that could never be recovered. She, along with several hundred volunteers, had helped rehabilitate this castle over the summer, but in her heart she'd known that broken walls could be mended easily but it took a long while for broken hearts to mend.

The school had opened on time, but this time it had lacked that sense of happiness for her, she didn't look at the castle and think of the happy times, she thought of war, she no longer saw its glory, she saw how easy it had been for the whole castle to crumble to pieces. But no matter what Hogwarts still felt like home, and she knew nothing would ever take that sense of belonging away.

She knew she should be down there, raising toasts to all those she'd lost, dancing to sounds of their victory, but as she stood there missing Harry and Ron as both of them decided not to return for their last year after war, for the first time she felt all alone. She'd known that if she heard one more word about all the lives lost, she would start crying so she had left. She'd come to the one place that she knew no one would bother her.

But that sense of loneliness didn't leave her.

"What are you doing here?" a familiar voice called out from behind her, she turned around to see Draco Malfoy standing there.

"I like watching the falling snow" she replied, turning her back to him, hoping he'd go away.

No such luck. He walked towards the railing and stood beside her.

"You are here because you like watching the falling snow?" he asked, a smile of disbelief on his face "Not because you couldn't bear to stand in there and here about all those people who died, all those people you lost?"

She stilled at his words, and turned to him, only to find him staring at the horizon and not at her. It was as if he didn't expect an answer to his question. She was surprised that he had figured it out.  
But maybe she shouldn't be, after being exempted of his crime of being a death eater, he had returned to help build the castle back up, he had stopped being a jerk, stopped making fun of people, he didn't even reply when people passed snide comments about his family.

Since he had worked with her while they rebuilt the castle, they had formed an unlikely kinship. Though she wouldn't go as far as calling him a friend, he had made a place for himself in her heart. It had taken a while, but his actions had convinced her that he wasn't a boy anymore, he was a man. Like everyone else, he too had been forced to grow up way too fast.

In her mind she'd replayed that day in Malfoy Manor over and over again, wondering what would've happened if he'd told his family that they really were Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. They would probably be dead now. She'd seen the look of guilt on his face when Bellatrix had tortured Hermione.

It had been hard for him to convince everyone that he wasn't a death eater anymore, that he'd never wanted to be one. But if he could convince her that he'd changed then she was sure that he really had. She remembered the day she'd finally accepted it.

_It had been a really hot summer afternoon when they had been working together, mending a part of the Great Hall, feeling insanely hot she had rolled up her sleeves and it had been then that those words had revealed themselves. The word "Mudblood" engraved on her arms, engraved by his aunt.  
She'd realised it a little too late, because by the guilty and remorseful look on his face Draco had already seen it. _

_She'd tried to cover it but he'd held her hand, she'd turned around to find a sheen layer of tears in his eyes. _

"_I'm sorry for what she did to you, I wish I could've done something and I would give anything to go back in time and change it, but I can't. I'm really very sorry" Then he had taken out his wand, murmured a spell she had never heard before, and the words had disappeared, leaving clear skin behind. Then he turned around and walked away, leaving Hermione behind to stare at him._

_It had been then that she'd realised that though war had forced many people to lose their innocence and grow up too fast, Draco Malfoy had been the victim it had broken the most._

"See something you like, Granger?" Draco asked, waking Hermione up from her trip down memory lane. She looked away and cursed herself for getting caught staring.

"In your dreams, Malfoy" she replied, trying to save her dignity.

Well, whatever was left of it, anyway.

His reply was to just chuckle.

"So why aren't you in there? Dancing and schmoozing?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"I like to watch the falling snow too , you know" he replied with a grin, making her laugh at the usage of her earlier words.

"I don't belong there, you know" he continued, his face losing all its happiness "With all those Heroes, talking about people who lost their lives, when it was probably someone I knew who killed them. I'm not a hero, Granger. I should be there in Azkaban, along with my father. But I'm lucky that I'm not, that too because Potter has some twisted sense that he owes me something for lying that day." Hermione stared at him, and listened to him, surprised at the need to defend him, surprised that he'd decided to share it with her.

"You are a hero to me, Malfoy" she replied, following her instincts. His gaze flew over to her face, then to her arm where the scars used to be. She knew he didn't believe her, but she was determined. And everyone knew that Hermione Granger never backed down.

"You are a hero to me" she repeated "And you are a hero to all those families who get to build up their lives again, because of the money you donated." His surprised gaze confirmed what she already knew; he didn't think anyone else knew about it. "Yes, I know. I figured it out after I noticed that the 90,000 galleons that had been anonymously donated came in just three days after the Malfoy Manor had been sold for nearly the same amount." She took a breath and spoke in an almost harsh voice "So don't tell me you aren't a hero. Because the fact that you regret the choices that were made for you and that you try to compensate for them is enough to convince me that you are just as much a hero that I am"

He looked thankful and a little disbelieving of her words, but he didn't try to convince her that she was wrong. They spent the next few minutes in silence watching the snow fall.

"Never thought I'd see the day when Hermione Granger would try to convince me that I'm hero." He said a smile on his face as he shook his head.

Hermione laughed and said "Yeah well, never thought I'd see the day that Draco Malfoy would talk to me without sneering"

But her laugh changed to a grimace as a freezing wind blew; she felt frozen to her bones and wished she had worn her robe over her sweater.

"You know I used to think you are the most intelligent person, but it turns out you aren't" Draco said, and she looked to see him shrugging out of his robes.

She opened her mouth to protest, but his stern gaze shut her up.

His fingers brushed against her as he helped her in his robes "Who forgets robes in this freezing weather?" he asked, but Hermione was too distracted by his close proximity to her to answer.

She felt sparks on her skin from where he'd touched her, she didn't know what it meant but she knew one thing – she wasn't cold anymore.

His fingers remained on her arms a little longer than necessary but a moment later he stepped back, clearing his throat. Then he regained his position beside her against the railing. A little too eager to break through this tension she decided to break through the tension by talking about something that most seventh years did.

"So what do you plan to do after you leave Hogwarts?" she asked. But he seemed a little nervous at her question and was that a blush rising up his cheeks?

"Umm... I ... ah... thought I could be a healer, maybe, I haven't really thought about it much" he said, looking anywhere but her.

She thought about the spell he'd used to remove her scars, about his interest in potions, and she was surprised that she hadn't thought of it before. But the hesitance in his voice bothered her.

"I think you'll be a great healer"she said, with as much conviction as she could muster "You should really work towards making it happen"

"You sure?" he asked, and behind his facade she saw a boy who was scared, scared of being misunderstood, scared of failing. She ached for that boy but she had enough trust in this man that she knew he won't fail.

"Yes" she said with her best convincing smile "And you better not prove me wrong." She added.

He laughed, then put one hand on his chest and put on a really dramatically serious face and took Hermione's hand "Anything for you milady".

Hermione laughed, but quickly became aware of his hand holding hers. Their eyes met and all traces of humour disappeared from his face. Hermione had to struggle to not get lost in the thunderstorms that were his eyes. But she saw something else in his eyes, something that she saw in the mirror every day, loneliness.

He cleared his throat, and untangled their hands. Hermione was instantly hit by the loss.

Just then the music coming from downstairs changed and now a slow, melodious tune fluttered through the doors of the Great Hall. Hermione smiled instantly, it was one of her favourite songs.

"What? Is there something on my face?" asked Malfoy, at the smile on Hermione's face.

"No, no it's just, that is my favourite song" she replied, unable to swipe the smile away from her face.

He suddenly looked surprised "To the moon and back?" she nodded, "It's my favourite too!"

She smiled, then frowned as he held out his hand and looked at him questioningly.

"Dance with me" he said, and she looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Come on Granger, I don't bite" he said, then after a beat he added "unless you ask me too"  
Hermione laughed and swatted his arm at the outrageous statement. He pretended to hold his arm and look hurt.

"Okay don't do it for me, do it to celebrate how this Christmas is better than last year's" he said, with a pleading look on his face.

Considering she'd spent last Christmas fighting Voldemort and his snake, she couldn't really fault him. So she took his hand and let him guide her.

He smiled and then pulled her closer, putting his free hand on her back, and she put her other hand on his shoulder. He started to sway to the music, taking her along. He was a few inches taller than she was, and with the way they were dancing, his lips fell directly near her ears.

Hermione felt something in his arms that she hadn't felt for quite a while, she felt safe.

After a few beats passed in silence and with Hermione suddenly feeling as if she could stay in his arms forever he said "Weasley would kill me if he saw me right now."

"What?" Hermione asked, stopping and pulling back to look at him

"Well, any bloke would want to kill the guy dancing with his girlfriend." Draco said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Hermione suddenly understood what he was talking about.

"I'm not Ron's girlfriend" she said.

"You're not?" asked Draco, who she noted was trying hard to frown but was unable to hide his smile.

"No, we never really got together, we realised that we were better off friends" she replied. Why she felt the need to explain this to him, she would never know.

Draco didn't say anything to that, but pulled her back in and continued to dance. With a new jump his steps too.

Then her favourite part of the song came on, which turns out, was Draco's favourite part too because he sang along in her ear.

"_I'll walk to the thousandth mile  
Just to see your pretty smile,  
Baby, everything I need is you.  
And I will see us through.  
You don't know or believe it yet,  
But the best day was the day we met.  
I'll keep you safe from every dementor attack  
I'll always love you to the moon and back."_

As he finished the song in his husky voice, Hermione knew she was done for. She knew that she'd lost her heart to the man holding her. And she didn't want it back

Soon the song ended and they stopped dancing, but he didn't let her go.  
"Hermione, look up" he said.

She was confused by his request but she looked up anyway, exactly at the top of where they stood was mistletoe, and Hermione could've sworn it wasn't there before.

But as she met his eyes, she was glad that it had appeared.

She stood on her toes and pressed her lips against his, he wrapped both of his hands around her and she locked hers around his neck and got lost his kiss. It was gentle at first but soon it turned passionate, she felt that they both were generating enough heat to melt the now around them.

A few moments later he pulled back, put his forehead on hers and with a small smile upon his face he asked.

"Hermione would I need mistletoe the next time I want to kiss you?"

And before she kissed him again she said "No, you won't"

A/n-Hope you guys liked, please review!


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